The present invention relates to fabricated wood to be used as flooring panels having the strength and outer surface finish of traditional solid hardwood boards, but exhibiting increased flexibility, and a lower cost than similar boards. The present invention further comprises a method of manufacturing the same.
The shortage of resources for providing good quality lumber to be used for domestic purposes, such as solid hardwood floors, has forced the pricing of such products to be high. In response to these high costs, attempts have been made to manufacture wood flooring panels from other less expensive resources. Flooring panels manufactured using these types of wood typically comprise a core layer constructed from a plurality of single rotary cut sheets of veneer or the like. These sheets are layered on top of each other such that the grain directions thereof are perpendicular to one another to impart strength and rigidity, and bonded together. Additionally, a single rotary cut or strand board veneer sheet made from the same or different wood material, may be bonded on the surface of these core panels to provide an aesthetic finish, as disclosed in Iwata et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,506,026.
However, upon manufacturing floor panels from individual sheets as described above, some amount of shrinkage of the sheets typically occurs from the effects of weather and aging after completion of the manufacturing process, and after the panels have been placed for use. Further, due to the above effects, the panels tend to move and create cracks or crevices in the floor. This leads to instability in the flooring and sometimes buckling of the individual floor panels. Further, although these types of wood flooring materials can provide rigidity similar to solid hardwood floor boards, when the various adjacent layers are positioned with their grain directions at 90 degrees with respect to one another, additional drawbacks occur. These drawbacks include a lack of flexibility in the finished product.
Thus, in the wood flooring industry, there is a need for affordable flooring panels having the strength found in hardwood flooring panels, with a greater amount of stability, flexibility, and high quality surface finish.
The present invention provides fabricated wood boards, and a process for manufacturing the same. In particular, the present invention provides wood boards comprised of a multi-layer core and a face layer comprised of a longitudinally sliced wood veneer laminated to at least one surface of said core layer. The core is formed of a laminate of layers of wood veneer, with successive layers positioned such that the direction of the grains therein are perpendicular to one another. Further, the plural, perpendicularly layered, veneers within said core layer include longitudinally pierced slots formed therein such that said pierced slots are parallel with the longitudinal grain structures of said veneers. Such perpendicularly layered pierced veneers can also be used in plywoods lacking a longitudinally sliced veneer. Moreover, various forms of chip board, particle board, and masonite can optionally be used to form internal layers of the fabricated wood boards. The high quality manufactured wood of the invention can be used in the manufacture of wood products such as flooring and furniture.
The present invention further includes a method for manufacturing wood boards comprising the steps of (1) forming a core layer by (a) preparing a back veneer having longitudinally pierced slots therein oriented in parallel with its longitudinal grain structures, (b) placing one or more additional veneer layers each having longitudinally pierced slots therein oriented in parallel with their respective longitudinal grain structures, upon said back veneer such that the longitudinal grain structures of each pair of adjoining veneer layers are perpendicularly oriented with respect to each other and are adhered to one another with glue, and (c) placing a surface or veneer xe2x80x9cfacexe2x80x9d formed of longitudinally sliced wood veneer, upon the exposed surface of said one or more additional veneer layers, such that the longitudinal grain structures of said surface veneer and said exposed veneer sheet of said core layer each are perpendicularly oriented with respect to each other, and are adhered to one another with glue.
The foregoing and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying figures.